This Day In Texas History - February 24
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:15 pm
1816 - Swante Magnus(Swede) Swenson was born in Jönköping, Sweden. In 1838 he became the first Swedish immigrant to Texas. Thereafter he encouraged many Swedes to immigrate. Swenson founded the SMS Ranches, became one of the largest landholders in the state, and headed extensive mercantile enterprises. He also served two terms as a Travis county commissioner and was the first treasurer of the State Agricultural Society. As an outspoken Unionist, he moved to Mexico during the Civil War, then in 1865 to New York. He and a handful of others became known as the Texas cattle barons.
1821 - Vicente R. Guerrero and Agustín de Iturbide proposed a blueprint for independence called the Plan de Iguala, for the Independence of Mexico from Spain. The plan offered three guarantees— preservation of the Catholic Church's status, the independence of Mexico as a constitutional monarchy, and equality of Spaniards and criollos(person's born in the New World to Spanish-born parents). Although viceregal authorities tried to resist, the plan met with widespread approval both in civilian and military quarters. By the end of July 1821, when Juan O'Donoju arrived to take over the reins of colonial government, the loyalists controlled only Mexico City and Veracruz. Recognizing that all was lost, O'Donoju met with Iturbide at the town of Córdoba, where on August 24, 1821, he signed a treaty granting Mexico independence.
1836 - William Barret Travis, commanding the Texans under attack in the Alamo, wrote his famous letter addressed "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World." (The actual text will follow this post)
1836 - James Bowie, commander of the volunteers and co-commander at the Alamo, takes ill, and relinquishes his share of command at the Alamo to William Travis. Bowie had been ordered to San Antonio to destroy the presidios that might be found useful to the approaching Mexican Army. When he arrived however, he met Colonel William Travis who had his own orders to defend San Antonio at any cost. His illness was diagnosed as pneumonia or typhoid pneumonia but probably was advanced tuberculosis.
1844 - President Sam Houston honorably discharged all officers not required for the minimum maintenance of the mothballed ships, in the Republic of Texas Navy and Republic of Texas Marine Corps.
1885 - The future Commander of the United States forces in the Pacific, Chester A Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg. He would lead the Pacific forces throughout World War II. His boyhood home, the Nimitz hotel, would become the Nimitz Memorial Museum of the Pacific War.
1899 - In Corsicana, J. S. Cullinan and Co opened the first oil refinery west of the Mississippi river. The name was later changed to Magnolia Oil, and still later, Mobil.
1969 - Approximately 100 Texas Rangers, local lawmen, and state police were dispatched to Wiley College, the oldest black college west of the Mississippi River, in response to a series of nonviolent student demonstrations on the Marshall campus. The students were demonstrating over faculty hiring practices, primitive dormitory facilities, and cutbacks in the intercollegiate athletic program. The lawmen undertook a massive search for concealed weapons in the dorms; the search was fruitless, but the school was closed down for several weeks. Wiley College was founded in 1873 and chartered in 1882.
1979 - Swine breeder Russ Braize of Stamford sold a pig for the highest price ever recorded at the time: $42,500. Glacier(the pigs name) held the world record for the most expensive boar of all breeds for 18 years. The pig, a duroc boar, was sold to William and Myron Meinhart of Hudson, Iowa.
1991 - The Second Armored Division(stationed at Fort Hood) entered Iraqi-held Kuwait. In 100 hours allied forces had taken back the emirate.
1821 - Vicente R. Guerrero and Agustín de Iturbide proposed a blueprint for independence called the Plan de Iguala, for the Independence of Mexico from Spain. The plan offered three guarantees— preservation of the Catholic Church's status, the independence of Mexico as a constitutional monarchy, and equality of Spaniards and criollos(person's born in the New World to Spanish-born parents). Although viceregal authorities tried to resist, the plan met with widespread approval both in civilian and military quarters. By the end of July 1821, when Juan O'Donoju arrived to take over the reins of colonial government, the loyalists controlled only Mexico City and Veracruz. Recognizing that all was lost, O'Donoju met with Iturbide at the town of Córdoba, where on August 24, 1821, he signed a treaty granting Mexico independence.
1836 - William Barret Travis, commanding the Texans under attack in the Alamo, wrote his famous letter addressed "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World." (The actual text will follow this post)
1836 - James Bowie, commander of the volunteers and co-commander at the Alamo, takes ill, and relinquishes his share of command at the Alamo to William Travis. Bowie had been ordered to San Antonio to destroy the presidios that might be found useful to the approaching Mexican Army. When he arrived however, he met Colonel William Travis who had his own orders to defend San Antonio at any cost. His illness was diagnosed as pneumonia or typhoid pneumonia but probably was advanced tuberculosis.
1844 - President Sam Houston honorably discharged all officers not required for the minimum maintenance of the mothballed ships, in the Republic of Texas Navy and Republic of Texas Marine Corps.
1885 - The future Commander of the United States forces in the Pacific, Chester A Nimitz was born in Fredericksburg. He would lead the Pacific forces throughout World War II. His boyhood home, the Nimitz hotel, would become the Nimitz Memorial Museum of the Pacific War.
1899 - In Corsicana, J. S. Cullinan and Co opened the first oil refinery west of the Mississippi river. The name was later changed to Magnolia Oil, and still later, Mobil.
1969 - Approximately 100 Texas Rangers, local lawmen, and state police were dispatched to Wiley College, the oldest black college west of the Mississippi River, in response to a series of nonviolent student demonstrations on the Marshall campus. The students were demonstrating over faculty hiring practices, primitive dormitory facilities, and cutbacks in the intercollegiate athletic program. The lawmen undertook a massive search for concealed weapons in the dorms; the search was fruitless, but the school was closed down for several weeks. Wiley College was founded in 1873 and chartered in 1882.
1979 - Swine breeder Russ Braize of Stamford sold a pig for the highest price ever recorded at the time: $42,500. Glacier(the pigs name) held the world record for the most expensive boar of all breeds for 18 years. The pig, a duroc boar, was sold to William and Myron Meinhart of Hudson, Iowa.
1991 - The Second Armored Division(stationed at Fort Hood) entered Iraqi-held Kuwait. In 100 hours allied forces had taken back the emirate.
